The Girl in the Red Room
by Thenewonetwo
Summary: She vowed to never return, and yet here she was returning. Natasha Romanoff goes back to the place that made her. She didn't want to, but it might all be worth it. Not only will she find and rescue a little girl abandoned by her people, and her family, but someone she can learn to love. And someone who will love her back. Fem!Harry Mommy!Natasha Daddy!Clint Avengers!Family
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I am a just a girl with a laptop... not the owner of these two amazing things**

 **Authors Note IMPORTANT: I am in denial about Civil War. And Age of Ultron made me sad. And so did Winter Soldier. Therefor, I have made changes to the MCU. Deal with it. Or leave. I really don't care. Some of those changes will be outlined in this chapter, but not all of them. You will have to wait for future chapters to find them out.**

 **Also IMPORTANT, I am not the most knowledgeable about comics. I know more that the average weirdo, but I am not a super fan. If** **I ha the opportunity to read a bunch of the comics and become a super fan, I would, but alas the real world sucks and I can't. That being said, what I write may contradict what is said in the comics. I apologize now. Message me or leave a review if i make an egregious error that needs to be fixed I will do my best to accommodate** **it if it fits with my story.**

 **More IMPORTANT. Well not so much important as fun. I will be playing what I like to call the head canon game. This game is basically me trying to shove as many cute or funny or sad or maybe just interesting head canons as I can into one story. Well, mostly ones from the MCU universe or just the Avengers in general. I plan on fucking with Potterverse so Im not really sure headcanons will apply. If you have any you would like to include, message or leave a review and I will add them if hey fit with my plan.**

 **Wow, lots of AN's. Sadly there is more. But these are not important so just skip to the story if you don't want to know or are just sick and tired of me speaking... typing... whatever. Go. I won't be offended.**

 **or will I?**

 **For those of you who have read any of my other stories, you know I have not updated in awhile. life is a butthole and that is my only excuse. also, this story has kind of been stuck in my head and I had to write it.**

 **The reason I wrote the story, is because I wanted to read it, but I couldn't find anything quite like it out there. If you know of one, message me or leave it in a review.**

 **Now, finally, my god, on to the story.**

 **Oh, warnings, forgot those.**

 **Umm, language and future descriptions of abuse and probably torture. Oh and violence. Lots of violence. Not so much in this chapter for any of these, but these warnings pretty much throughout.**

"No."

"Agent Romanoff!"

"I said no."

"Natasha be reasonable."

"No Clint. I refuse. I'm not going back to Russia let alone back to that place." Natasha Romanoff followed orders. She always had and she always would, but not this time. Not this order. She had done things in her life, things she didn't want to do and the cause of most of those thing was the place that they wanted her to go.

The Red Room.

The place where the life she led she began. The place that trained and tortured her. The place she had long ago vowed never to go back too. And here Fury was asking her to go back.

"Wait, I thought the Red Room was no more. Shut down years ago?"

"We thought so too Stark. However recent intel has told us that it is back in working order. At least on a small scale."

Natasha scoffed.

"Something to add Agent Romanoff?"

"No offense to your intel gathering skills Director, but the Red Room doesn't do small scale. They go all the way or not at all."

"Which is why you need to stop them."

"Why her? Why Agent Romanoff?"

"Because Mr. Rogers, she was part of the Red Room training program years ago."

"I know that Director, what I don't understand is why you would make her go back. It doesn't seem to be a good idea."

"I agree," Dr. Bruce Banner, also known as the Hulk when angry, said, "sending her back there isn't fair to ask of her."

"This isn't about fair, this is about stopping an organization that has created hundreds of killers."

Natasha didn't flinch at this, but her jaw tightened and her eyes hardened.

"Agent Romanoff…"

"No I understand, and you are right. The Red Room has made many assassins and spies. People who have caused the death of thousands upon thousands of people, and all of that has to be stopped. But I cannot be the person to do it. I won't be. There are plenty of SHIELD agents who can do it. I refuse." And with that Natasha stalked out of the room, Clint following quickly after.

"Nat!"

Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America, also made a move to follow but the director stopped him. "Let her go. I understand what I am asking is a lot on her."

"Then why ask?" Tony Stark, or Iron Man, asked taking a sip from the glass of scotch he held in his hand.

"Because while Romanoff is correct, we have other agents, no one is as good as her and no one knows the Red Room like her. She is our best option."

"You said something about information," Steve said, slightly switching the gears of the conversation. While, yes, it was important to figure out what Natasha's role in the mission would be, he also felt that they needed to know where this was coming from. All previous reports had shown that the Red Room had not been in operation for over 15 years. That it had closed down shortly after its most successful operative had been sent out and then defected, Natalia Romanova. The operative who now went by the name Natasha Romanoff. So what new information could have come up that supported the idea that the Red Room was back in working order.

Director Nick Fury of SHIELD paused at this which worried Steve. If Steve had learned anything in his experience with Fury it was that the man had secrets. 'His secrets have secrets' as Tony had so delicately put it. Fury pausing meant that he had time to think about what he was going to say, meaning that he could keep something a secret. It seemed that Tony realized this as well because he decided to speak up.

"Ah ah ah Eye Patch, we don't want some sharpied-out, redacted spy file version. You are asking to use one of us, which means all of us. We are not going at this with half-truths, if, that is, we decide to go at this at all."

Since the fight with Loki, the Avengers had grown closer. Stark Tower, now named the Avengers Tower, had become a home to all of the original Avengers, even Thor when he came to town, plus a few new members.

First had come Bruce (besides Tony obviously, it was his tower). He hadn't exactly wanted to go back to Calcutta and Tony's offer to work in many of the Stark labs had been too much to resist. Bruce hadn't planned on actually moving in but Tony had insisted and Bruce had stopped fighting it.

Steve came next. Despite his and Tony's initial conflict with each other, they had learned to work together in their battles. That togetherness had turned into a friendship. After that it hadn't taken long for Tony to invite him to move into the tower. Seeing how Bruce was already living there, and that Tony and Bruce were some of the only people in this time period that he knew, Steve agreed quickly.

Then came Clint and Natasha. They weren't invited they just sort of showed up one day. But Tony hadn't turned them away. Instead he had told them that they had level 47 to themselves and to make themselves at home. And they had.

Next was James Buchanan Barnes and Sam Wilson The Winter Soldier and the Falcon. When the news came to the Avengers that the Winter Soldier was in town they had immediately went on the defensive. They were joined by Steve's jogging buddy, though Sam always insisted they only ran together so that Steve could show off. He helped them fight, and they crashed at his house and drank his orange juice(he was still bitter about that). After discovering the Winter Soldier was actually Steve's old friend, the Avengers had defied orders and taken him to Avengers Tower instead of SHIELD headquarters. And a good choice that ended up being. With the help of some of Tony's tech and the support of Steve, they were able to wipe away all the Hydra training that had been drilled into him. Bucky was able to tell them about Hydra agents buried deep within SHIELD, and got a step ahead before they even had a chance to attack. He moved into Steve's floor and Sam got his own, which he was very happy about. Not quite payment for the orange juice, but it was getting close.

And Thor would show up when he wanted too, bringing Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, and even Loki sometimes when he did(it was found out shortly after the Battle of New York that Loki was being mind controlled. He was pardoned for his crimes but helped the Avengers from time to time as a sort of penance).

With all of them living under the same roof the group had become close. A family. And so here comes Fury asking to use a member of their family. Something that she did not want to do, and they didn't want to give them all of the information? No way. Not going to happen.

"I wasn't planning to hide any information," Tony scoffed, but Fury continued on, "I was just trying to figure out how to say it. It is a delicate situation."

"What he is trying to say," said a voice as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open, "is that there have been secrets and that this situation is bringing them into the light."

There in all his government suit glory stood Phil Coulson. The Phil Coulson who was dead. The Phil Coulson that Loki had murdered. And yet here he was. Alive.

"Uhhh… Jarvis, there is a ghost in my house. At least I think so because the only other man who looks like that agent is dead."

The whole room, besides Fury and Coulson himself, sat gaping at the man in front of them. How was he there? How was he even alive? They had seen his body, at least the ones who had fought in the Battle of New York had.

"Not a ghost Stark, not in the literal sense of the word anyway. I didn't die. Well, I did die but they brought me back. Not as a ghost. As a person."

"Thank you for the explanation Agent Coulson, but it can wait for later."

"It can wait for now Director," Tony said still looking at Coulson, "I would like to know now."

"The director is right Tony," Steve said standing up from his place on the couch, and crossing his arms. "We will discuss this later, believe me we will, but for now we need to go back to the Red Room. What is the information and how is Coulson involved?"

Tony, although he was not entirely happy about it, agreed and decided to let it go for the moment. "Yes information. Good place to start."

"My team and I…" Coulson began but was interrupted by Tony.

"Your team? I thought we were your team?"

"Stark!"

"Got it Captain. I'll wait for questions."

"As I was saying, my team and I were hunting down a Hydra lead that landed us in Russia. While there we heard rumors of girls going missing. Given our location my thoughts immediately went to the Red Room. But I dismissed it because we had thought it no longer existed. But the longer we looked, the more evidence pointed to the Red Room. Eventually we found our answer in the form of a Red Room operative. Not one of their creations, but a teacher. We… convinced him to reveal some things. He wasn't a fanatic, so it wasn't too difficult. The Red Room is back in operation and they have been for a while, if only on a smaller scale. They are trying to regain their place in the crime world and are doing so by once more training up young girls in the art of espionage and murder. Just like they did to Agent Romanoff all those years ago."

"They are kidnapping young girls?" Everyone turned their heads to the same hallway that Natasha had stormed out of just a short while earlier. There she stood staring at Coulson. Clint was standing her behind her.

"Agent Romanoff…"

"Agent Coulson. Again, missing girls?" Her voice was hard.

Realizing the best course of action would be to continue to debrief the Avengers on the situation. "Yes. Seven girls so far. Five of those seven girls have already been found dead."

Natasha looked down at her feet. "I'll do it."

"Nat…" Clint put his hand on his partners shoulder. "It isn't your problem. Those girls are not your fault. Don't do this because you feel pressured."

"No I need to do it."

"Legolas is right Red. You are right, there are others who can do this."

"And Fury is right, I need to do this. No one knows the Red Room as well as I do. No one else can do this."

"Okay."

"Captain, do you really think that's wise? To let them use Red? Let them send her to Russia?"

"Of course not. We're going with her."

"Captain…"

"No Director. If Natasha decides she is going, then she's going, but we aren't letting her go alone."

"I wasn't going to say no, I was going to say we weren't finished giving you the information."

"Then please continue."

"When interrogating the man we captured, he told us of one particular subject. He had never personally worked with her but he had head=rd about her through others at the facility. She's been there the longest out of the girls and she isn't one of the two remaining girls of the seven. Rumors said she's been there from five to ten years. What's special about this particular girl is that not only is she the first girl to start training since the Red Room started operating again, she's being experimented on." Both Bucky and Natasha tensed at this. While both Steve and Bruce had been experimented on as well, they had chosen to do so. The group highly doubted that the girl Coulson was speaking about was a willing participant. "Supposedly she has been implanted with some technology as well as some enhancement formulas. They are turning her into the ultimate weapon, much the same as what they did to Mr. Barnes with the same training as Ms. Romanoff. According to our guy, she's a success. They keep trying to do the same the other girls which is why they are dying. The girl is good and extremely lethal. Rumors around the compound is that she has killed over 50 people already."

The group sat in silence as they digested the information they had been given. The Red Room hadn't been in operation for long and already they had created the killing machine. a killing machine they would more than likely have to fight if they went after the restroom. A killing machine he was probably no older than 17 years old.

The other girls who are there could be rescued and rehabilitated, they would be traumatized of course, but they would eventually be fine. This girl had been there for years. She'd been tortured by them for years. Indoctrinated by their beliefs and philosophy. Natasha had been lucky when she had broken away from the training that move into her. Bucky had Steve to help them break away from what happened demanded of him. The probability of this girl being able to do the same was low.

"We are going to go. We are going to go dismantle them, and we are going to rescue those girls," Natasha said her mind made up. She made eye contact with every member of her fellow Vengeance. Each one nodded as she did.

"Looks like we are headed to Russia."

._.

The flight to Russia was a long one. A long very tense one. Everyone wanted to talk, but no one wanted to start the conversation.

Coulson and his team had offered to take the group of them, however that idea was quickly shut down.

Yes, it was necessary to work everything out, but it was something that needed to 8. Something that needed to wait until they had finally destroyed the Red Room.

Everyone was nervous, although they were doing their best not to show it. Who knew exactly what they were going to encounter. Little girl assassins? One certain little girl assassin who had been tortured and trained for years. One no one was entirely sure they could save.

Natasha sat in her place on Tony's private plane. Back to Russia. Back to the place that had made her what she was. She always known that she would eventually have to go back, she had even guessed that the Red Room would be involved, but she had always hoped she was wrong.

Apparently that wasn't to be.

So now she was on a plane.

Clint kept trying to speak with her, as did other members of The Avengers, but she wasn't talking to anyone.

In just a few hours they would be landing and they would be infiltrating the Red Room facility. And more than anything she wanted to save the girls. To save the remaining of the seven and also the one who have been there longer than any other. At least in this round of girls.

Decided to relax for a while before they landed, Natasha close your eyes.

Next thing she knew Clint was tapping her shoulder. She didn't jump, please she was a spy she knew her surroundings.

"Nat, we are here. The plane just landed. Everyone is getting suited up."

It was time to go. She stood up and went to the back where her suit was. She quickly put it on (as quickly as one can put on a leather catsuit anyways), and then joined the rest of the Avengers.

"Okay, we have the coordinates from Coulson's team. The building is only about 5 minutes from here on our bikes. Tony and Sam will be our eyes in the sky. Natasha, you and Clint will go in first and disable the security system and take out any guards here. Bucky and I will follow. Banner will stay here and monitor things. If we need the Hulk, we will call. Remember our top priority is to rescue the girls. Also no one confront the other girl alone, the reports say she is extremely dangerous. Everyone comms in?" Everyone nodded at Steve, "all right move out."

The team all got on their bikes, save for Tony and Sam who took to the sky. Within no time at all they were at a large warehouse building, right where Coulson had said it would be.

Natasha and Clint headed straight for the security system, Tony and Sam taking out people who tried to stop them.

There were many guards, but it was clear they were not expecting an attack. It was working in the Avengers favor.

The group found themselves inside the building. It was late, so everyone began to look for some kind of sleeping area. The most likely place the girls would be at this hour. As they ran down hallways taking out guards as they did, Natasha couldn't help the memories that popped up. Through open doors she saw rooms that haunted her dreams. Training rooms. A ballet studio. Operating rooms. All things she still vividly remembered. And as she saw these things her resolve only hardened. She would save these girls. She would make sure no one else would have to go through what she did. Not anymore. Not by these people.

The group had been in the facility about 20 minutes when Steve voice came over the comms. " _Found the girls. More than expected. We are rounding them up now. I don't see any sign of the girl Coulson told us about though."_

"Not and I will keep looking," Natasha heard Clint say through both the comms and from behind her.

It wasn't long before they came across a man trying to open a closed door. The only closed or Clint and Natasha had come across this far. He was frantically typing something into keypad. The last of many security measures based on the very complicated security panel by the door. Not quite sure why, Natasha decided against just shooting him and being done with it. She took him down with a well-placed kick to the knee and held him at gunpoint.

"What's in there?" She said in a hard voice as the panel flashed green, signaling the door was unlocked.

"Her," the man said giggling slightly. He was obviously mad. " She's what you're here for, isn't it? My greatest creation. You want to take her from me and use her. But you can't. No no no. Because she's off. She's off and I won't tell you how to turn her on." The man began laughing once more.

Natasha and Clint glanced at each other and through just a look they decided that they weren't going to do well on the crazy person in front of them. Natasha cold clocked him with her gun as Clint quickly opened the door.

It was a small room. A tiny room even. It was completely bare save for a metal bed against the far wall, one without even a blanket to provide some semblance of comfort and warmth. Everything about the room was cold and unforgiving. With its grey walls and freezing temperatures.

And on the bed in the back of the cold tiny room sat a girl. She was dressed in a loose, badly fitting dress the same grey as the walls. Her legs were hanging off the bed, her bare feet barely brushing the metal floor. She had pale skin. Unhealthy so, as if she had never seen the light of day. She was also skinny, extremely skinny, her cheekbones and collarbone jutting out of her body, skin pulled tight. They couldn't see her ribs because of the dress, but they would venture to guess they would be easily able to count each and every one. Yet despite her emaciated appearance, there was evidence of muscles in her arms and legs. It was as if she had worked hard to build herself up and make herself stronger but never ate enough to keep healthy. Long locks of black hair flowed down her back. It was knotted and filthy, but they could tell with a good wash( a few good washes really) and a while with a brush, it would be beautiful. One of her eyes was green, a vibrant green that had been dulled by the life she was forced live. The other eye glowed blue. It was a metal eye, a very complex robotic metal eye by the looks of it. No telling if it was the only prosthetic or mechanical addition to the girl, but based on the blue glow coming from under the dress, there were more. But under all of this, the dirt and grime, the unflattering clothes, and underfed frame, Natasha and Clint could tell she was beautiful. Very beautiful. At least she would be when she grew up.

Everything about the situation was shocking, but the most shocking of all was the fact that she looked to be about 8 years old.

She looked at them with wide eyes, the mechanical one glowing brightly, small pink lips parted slightly. Then she opens her mouth and spoke in a voice even younger than she appeared. "Are you here to save me? Please save me!" Her green eye filled with tears and Natasha and Clint turned to each other and locked eyes.

'Guys," Clint said speaking into his comm, "We have a problem."

 **YAYYYY All done!**

 **What did you think? Is this a story worth continuing?**

 **Also, I do not yet have a name for Miss Harry. And i refuse to call her Harriet cause i find the name stupid. Sorry to all the Harriet's out there. Leave a review if you think of a good one.**

 **And any suggestions for the headcanon game. If you dont know what it is, I refer you to the top of the page.**

 **I'm addicted to reviews, be my enabler!**

 **Love you my bitches, peace out and good night!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Not mine yada yada yada**

 **Here comes chapter two my bitches and oh my god I am so happy. You want to know why? Because you guys are awesome. Seriously. You have no idea how happy you made me with all your reviews and favorites and follows.**

 **How could I not update with that much awesomeness going on? Seriously, I was not expecting this.**

 **ON THE SUBJECT OF HER NAME: Thank you for all your very helpful ideas. I haven't decided for sure what it is going to be yet, but I do have a few new parameters. She is going to have two names, the one she was born with and the one that Natasha gives her. The one Natasha gives her is Katerina, which is a Russian name thank you Opnir, Katya for short. I haven't decided on a middle name so if you think of one review. Not sure what to do for her birth name yet. I like the flower names suggestions I have been getting, but I also like some of the H names. Roar! So hard to choose! So keep giving me ideas my loves!**

 **TheTRUTHTELLER- Love the AntiSnape thing, and will definitely work it into the story. I will make sure to credit you when I do.**

 **\- this is set after my AU version of Winter Soldier. NOt sure how I want to work AoU in, or even if I want too. I want to bring in Wanda and Pietro, but I'm not sure about the rest of that movie and how it fits in with what I want to do. I don't really want to bring in vision for one very selfish reason. I want to keep Jarvis. Not entirely sure how it works in the comics, but in the MCU Jarvis pretty much dies when Vision is spawned, because well Jarvis was fucking awesome and spawns into a infinity stone Jarvis hybrid thing, which is Vision. So, more likely than not, Vision will not be making an appearance.**

 **And to all my other reviewers, thank you for the name suggestions and your positive reviews! Love you bitches.**

 **And before we begin on the subject of the plane, while i was writing this I am picturing something similar to Coulson's plane from AoS, but better because Tony isn't willing to have anything but the best so yeah.**

._.

" _Guys we have a problem."_ Clint's voice came over the comms.

"What is it, Barton?" Steve asked placing a hand to his ear. He used the other arm to motion the group of crying girls out of the door.

" _She's eight, maybe nine,_ " said Natasha's voice, " _the girl that Coulson was talking about."_

"Shit."

"Bucky."

"Shut up punk."

" _Guys,_ " Tony said, " _little girl."_

"Is she attacking?" Steve asked.

" _No,"_ Clint answered, " _she's looking at us, crying and begging us to save her."_

The whole group was silent for a few moments. This was not what they expected. They expected a fight, they didn't want one from her, of course not, but they were prepared for one. They weren't prepared for this. A crying little girl, assassin, who had killed 50 people.

" _What do we do?"_ Clint asks.

"Bring her here."

"You sure that's wise Capsicle?" Tony asked as he landed next to him and the cowl on his helmet came up. "She could be acting to make us let our guard down."

"Maybe," Steve responded, "But our job is to rescue the girls. She's a little girl, we need to help her." Bucky nodded.

He himself remembered moments when he was still Hydra's property, when he so badly wanted to beg someone to help him. To save him from the torture they were putting him through. To stop him from killing again. And here he was hearing that a little girl was doing the same. They needed to save her.

" _Hey,"_ Natasha's voice once more came over the comms, this time much softer. Bucky could see it in his mind. Her lowering herself to the little girls level, slowly inching closer to the scared child in front of her. He could see her doing whatever it took to make her feel safe. Over the comms they could hear crying, but it got quieter as Natasha began to speak, " _We're here to save you, okay? Take you away from here."_

"Where are you guys? We've already got all the other girls out, we're coming to you." Steve asked.

" _North corridor,"_ said Clint as Natasha continued to speak softly with the little girl.

After directing Sam to wait with the other girls, Steve, Bucky, and Tony began running to the North corridor, Jarvis telling them the way. It didn't take very long for them to get there. Steve immediately kneeled down next to the man bleeding on the floor. He ripped a piece of cloth off of the man's shirt and tied it around the bullet wound. He had feeling that they would need to question him and it wouldn't do to have him die before he could do so. He also handcuffed him so that he couldn't get away if he woke up.

After finishing that, he joined Bucky, Tony, and Clint by the doorway. There was the little girl. Crying on a bed in the back of a tiny room. Just looking at her, Steve had a hard time reconciling the assassin that he was told about with the child they were presented with. How could this little thing, this innocent looking tiny girl, be a killer? An assassin. One who was reported to have killed over fifty people?

Only Natasha was in the room with her. That was probably the best idea seeing how not only was she a woman(children seem to respond better to women than men) and that she was probably one of the few people in the world who could understand what she was going through. Plus, Steve wasn't even sure more people could actually fit in the room. At least not very comfortably. It really was a small room.

Just as he had heard her do over the comms, Steve watched as Natasha tried to reassure the girl. To get her to stop crying. She was on her knees in front of the bed, arms open wide in a welcoming manner. In a non-threatening manner. Everything she had to do to get the girl out of a panicked state without her attacking them. Everything she had to do to get her out of this godforsaken place.

"Guys," Steve whispered to the rest of the group, "We need to get out of here."

"I understand that Capsicle, but we need to do this without aggravating the tiny crying killing machine."

"Don't be insensitive Tony."

"I'm not being insensitive, I'm being serious. I do not want to fight this girl. I'm not even sure I could convince myself too. We need to get her out of here very carefully."

"I agree," said Bucky, "I couldn't fight her." All he could see was a victim crying for help, not a villain to be fought. No, he couldn't and wouldn't fight this little girl. They would get her out of there. They would save her. Whatever it took.

Natasha's voice came from the room, "Shhh…"

Oops.

The group of them outside of the door stopped talking.

"It's all right. We are here to help you," she continued in a soft voice. Everyone stayed quiet as Natasha continued to talk the girl down, every once in awhile switching from English to Russian. Before they knew it the little girl had stopped crying and was melting into Natasha's arms. Natasha slowly stood up, little girl settled on her hip, and turned around to face her teammates. "Someone grab the man on the floor, he will be helpful in understanding what is going on. We need to leave."

The group moved aside to let Natasha pass, and Steve leaned down and picked up the unconscious man and threw him over his shoulders. Yes, he was technically in charge, but if Natasha Romanoff told you to do something, you generally did it no questions asked. Kind of like what you did if one Peggy Carter told you what to do. Who was he kidding, exactly like what you did if Peggy said it. You ignore either of those two women you did it at the peril of your own life. Though, really, if any woman told you to do something and you didn't do it you were risking a lot. At least according to Bucky. He himself hadn't the best of luck pre-serum with the ladies, and after that had been spent pining after Peggy. And he still wasn't settled enough in this century to go looking for dates or over Peggy for that matter. But that was beside the point. Little girl. Rescuing. Not self pity time.

Everyone followed Natasha out of the building, and soon enough the group made it out of the facility. Sam was waiting for them there.

"Where are the other girls?"

"Back on the plane. I found a car, hot wired it, loaded 'em up, and drove them over there," Sam said gesturing in the direction of the plane. He then gave a little nod in Natasha's direction, "That her?"

Natasha just nodded.

"Let's get going," Steve ordered.

"Yeah, don't want to leave Green Machine with a bunch of small, crying children for too long."

While Tony's comment wasn't the most sensitive thing in the world, it was a true one. While Bruce had very good self control, a bunch of children was enough to drive anyone into a fit of rage, and traumatized children were bound to be ten times worse. It wasn't the best idea to leave him for too long.

Everyone headed back to the plane, the little girl joining Natasha on her bike, and their unconscious prisoner joining Steve on his. They were leaving many people behind in the facility, but based on the helicopter noises in the air, SHIELD was coming. They could take care of the rest. The Avengers had done their task. They had rescued the girls, and they had 'taken care of' the assassin. And by taken care of, they meant literally take care of her instead of taking her out. SHIELD could deal with the rest of the mess.

It didn't take long to make it to the plane. They quickly loaded into the back and shut the cargo bay door behind them. Steve and Bucky took the prisoner to a holding area, Tony and Clint went to get the plane ready for take off, Sam went to secure everything, and Natasha headed to the medical bay. Bruce was there as well with the rest of the girls they had rescued. Most of them seemed in pretty good shape, but Natasha could tell that Bruce had already had to patch up a few wounds. She deposited the little girl in her arms on one of the empty beds. At least she tried to. The girl had a tight grip on her. When she finally got her off, she noticed that the girl was asleep. Or unconscious. Natasha wasn't entirely sure, but based on the way she was breathing, she was gonna go with unconscious.

She turned around to get Bruce's attention when she saw all the other girls staring at the one she had placed on the bed.

"Do you know her?" Natasha asked first in English then in Russian. She knew at least some of them were russian, so some of them were bound to understand her. The girls looked at each.

"Yes," one of them answered slowly in heavily accented English "She's the demon."

"The demon?" Natasha questioned. Is that how they thought of her?

The girl nodded, "That's what they called her. The bad men. They showed us her when we were bad. Sometimes they hurt her for example. Other time they turn her on and make us fight. You can't win if she on."

"I don't like fighting her," one of the others said. "She scary on."

"Not scary off. Sad off."

On and off. The man Natasha had shot had said something along the same lines. That they couldn't use her because she was off. It sounded like they did something similar to what Hydra had done to Bucky to this little girl. Bucky was not going to be happy. No one was going to be happy, but it would hit Bucky especially hard. Natasha decided to leave questioning for later. She turned to Bruce.

"Look her over." Yes, it was rude, but Natasha really didn't have time for niceties right now.

Bruce came over to the bed, and began examining her. Natasha felt the plane lift off as she watched Bruce. It didn't take long for the rest of the team to join. Tony immediately lead the other girls out of the room, presumably to another area of the plane where they could get more comfortable.

"How is she?" Steve asked after awhile of watching Bruce work.

"Well, I'm not a medical doctor, so I really shouldn't be making any statements about how she is doing at all…"

"Cut the crap and tell us how she is." Natasha really wasn't usually this short with her teammates but she needed to know. She had connected with this girl. And it was more than just the fact that they had been both taken and trained by the Red Room. She wasn't even entirely sure what it was. All she knew was that she cared about this person that she had just rescued from a horrible situation, and goddammit she wanted to know how she was.

"Not good," Bruce said after a short pause, "Again I'm not a medical doctor and I can't tell you everything going on with her, but what I do know is that we need to get her to a doctor at the tower and quickly. She shows clear signs of malnutrition and torture. Also, based on preliminary examinations, it's clear she had been experimented on. She had metal implants going up and down her spine, as well as in her legs and arms. And this is just a theory, but I'm going to guess a scan of her blood is going to reveal plenty of experimental enhancement drugs and chemicals. No way they were able to keep this girl alive, let alone coherent and fighting, without any."

"Her eye was glowing," Clint supplied from his place on the wall. His bow was lying at his feet. "When we found her. It was glowing blue. Even though her other eye was green. I'm guessing that's mechanical too."

"That would be a good assumption," Bruce answered.

"So what I'm hearing is," Tony said as he strode through the doors of the medical area, "Is that I need to have the best doctors in the world waiting for us at the tower when we arrive."

"Normally I wouldn't tell you to something so excessive, but at this point I think it's a good idea. I have no idea what we could potentially be dealing with."

Tony nodded at Bruce. Most of the Avengers thought his best of the best thing was excessive at times, so for Bruce to agree so quickly the situation was obviously serious. Tony pulled out his phone and sent off a quick message through Jarvis to the tower. Someone there would have it done by the time they landed in New York.

Steve decided to speak up. "I hate to say it, but Fury isn't going to like it. He's going to want her. He's not going to like us taking her home and fixing her up. She's an assassin. One who has reportedly killed over 50 people. It won't matter to him what we saw, all he is going to see is a killer."

"So you're saying is that we should just hand her over to the big bad pirate spy in the sky? That we should just forget our plan to save a little girl because of what she's done. She's a little girl Captain. You saw her. There is no way she did killed all those people without being made too. You couldn't fake the fear she was showing. You couldn't fake those tears."

"I'm not saying we turn her over Stark. I'm saying we need a plan. We can't let Fury get to her before we can figure out what is going on. How what we heard can be true. We can't let him have her at all. You honestly can't think I would suggest something like that."

"She's like Bucky," Natasha said before Tony could answer. "The man I shot said something about her being off, and the girls I talked to said that when she was on she was unstoppable and that when she was off she was sad. I'm getting the idea they programmed her like Bucky. That's how they got her to kill. She's harmless until they trigger her."

It was silent before the sound of metal hitting metal filled the room. A suspiciously Bucky fist sized dent was now in the wall. No one commented on it.

"We need to get back to New York," Steve said finally, "And we need to talk to that man."

 **ALLLLLL DOOOONNNNNNEEEE**

 **What did you think? Not too much happened I guess, but hey, they will promise.**

 **Dont forget to review with name ideas and headcanons to use.**

 **I'm addicted to reviews, be my enabler!**

 **Love you my bitches, peace out and good night!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Not mine Bitches. Deal with it.**

 **Warnings: Mentions of child abuse and torture and some language. Also, some evilness from mr prisoners.**

 **Also a warning I probably a warning I should have given earlier on. This is a clintasha story. I know clint has a wife and a family, but I want to go back before that was all in MCU and we were all shipping Clintasha.**

 **There are a few reasons I am doing this, number one being I want too. They are an awesome couple in my opinion. Two, it doesn't seem right for me to have Clint living in the tower with his family living in the country. Seriously, that's just messed up. So either I have to have him not with his family, or not living in the tower. I went with the first option.**

 **Still haven't decided on the name but I am working on it promise. Remember there will be two names. The one she was born with, and the name Natasha gives her, which is Katerina something.**

 **Also, the doctors name came from a google search of evil Russian names, so thank you random internet yahoo answers person for the name. The credit is yours.**

 **Quebie331- I actually had planned to do that before you left the review, great minds think alike I guess. :P That is actually addressed this chapter.**

 **Oricke- Loving the vote of confidence. But i understand. I will endeavor to do better.**

 **Swordalfgun- Love all the power suggestions. I will definitely use some, if not all of them! Thanks for that!**

 **r. 92- Thank you for the comment on characterization. That's always something I worry about. If you notice anything you think needs to be addressed in the future just tell me. And no worries about the short review, anything and everything is appreciated**

 **ArmCannos34- I did order a review, thank you for giving it to me. And the cryptic, creepy thing, we will definitely be getting more of that in the future, don't you worry!**

 **Love to all other reviewers who I do not have the times to respond too!**

 **Here is the chapter you all wanted**

The flight back to New York was a long and stressful one. The group had decided against interrogating their prisoner on the plane because superheroes plus anger never ended well. Talking to the guy was almost guaranteed to cause some anger and they were 40,000 feet in the air. Wouldn't want a fit of anger to put a hole in the plane and the lot of them in ocean. Steve dying in a plane crash twice just wouldn't be fair to him.

Tony spent most of the flight tinkering with his suit and drinking. The suit hadn't been damaged in the fight, but he needed to do something, and tinkering was always a good escape. The drinking was pretty self explanatory.

Steve spent much of the flight drawing. Drawing was something he did often when he needed to calm down. This mission was something he really needed to calm down from. Most of drawings featured the little girl. He tried to draw her in a way in which she was healthier and not so tortured, but he couldn't get the image of her starved frame, hunched over and crying on her metal bed out of his head. So that seemed to be all that he was able to draw.

Bucky spent most of the flight staring at the wall. And trying to not put any more dents in it. It was working. Most of the time. He'd made a few more, but he had covered them up with things. Tony would probably find them, but that didn't matter. Tony was actually pretty understanding about that sort of thing. He still felt bad though, so he was doing his best at not hitting things anymore by staring at the wall and not moving at all.

Sam mostly just played with Red Wing. There really wasn't much else to do, not that he was really up for doing much else. It hadn't really been the most physically taxing of missions, but it was definitely one of the most emotionally taxing ones. Maybe the most. He had never seen Natasha or Bucky show as much emotion as they had. He may not have felt the same connection to the girl as the two of them had, but anytime something affected a member of the team, he felt it too. That was the way family worked.

Bruce spent the flight in the medical area with their little assassin. He may not be a medical doctor exactly, but he did have experience from when he was on the run. He could keep her steady until they made it to Avengers tower. He decided on keeping her sedated for the flight and had gotten her started her on IV in order to get some nutrients into her. It wasn't much, but it was really the most he could do at the moment. He had no idea what would happen if he did more. How the chemicals keeping her alive would react. How the mechanical implants would act. He also decided on drawing some blood to do testing on. Again, not much could be done on the plane, but he could get a start on the work he'd no doubt continue to work on back at the tower.

Clint was all over the place during the flight. From the cockpit of the plane making sure the flight was on track, to checking on the girls, bringing them food, water and blankets, to checking on Natasha. Most of the time was with Natasha. Clint couldn't imagine what she was going through, and she wasn't sharing. Natasha was not the most open person in the world, in fact Clint would venture to guess she was one the least open people in the world, but Clint figured he knew her better than most. After all, they were partners. More than partners. He had hoped that maybe she would talk to him at the very least. She didn't seem to want too. At least not for now. He supposed she would when she felt ready, Clint just hoped that time would be sooner rather than later. It wouldn't be good for her to keep her emotions bottled up for too long.

Natasha didn't move for the entire flight. Not once. She kept her still, silent vigil by the bedside of the girl that reminded her of herself. This girl who for a reason she herself could not understand, let alone explain, she felt an intense connection to. So many different emotions were filling her, but one overwhelming thing she felt was guilt. Sure, she had saved the girl, but what if she hadn't? What if she had kept saying no to Fury? What if some other SHIELD agents had found her, and hadn't cared that she was crying and begging, and went off the information they had been given? What if they had killed her? Not everyone was as understanding as her team. There was a very good chance that if she had said no, the little girl lying on the bed in front of her would never have left the compound alive. Fury wasn't a bad guy, but he took very threats very seriously. And that was what the little girl was. A threat. So Natasha watched over the little girl they saved, and didn't move an inch until the plane landed on the landing pad on Avengers Tower.

The plane was immediately boarded by the doctors that Tony had on standby and taken to the towers much more substantial medical floor. Natasha tried to follow, but was held back by one of the doctors. Natasha had wanted to punch them for telling her what to do, but decided against it when she realized that that meant there was one less doctor working on the little girl. She would punch him after they had healed her. She had patience.

Tony, for one, was glad that Clint and Natasha had insisted that he have holding cells put in his tower. He had been against it at first, but had given in because disagreeing with two internationally known assassins that lived with you was bad for your health. And that was a fact.

Now he was happy. They had a place to put the bastard. Tony knew it was a little irrational to hate someone you had never even spoke to with as much vehemence as he did, but Tony was never on for rationality. Life was more fun that way. Though he did suppose it would be prudent to learn his name.

You should really know the person-you-hate's name. That way you know who's credit score to ruin. Not that this guy would really need a good credit score where he was going.

Still, it was the thought that counts. Everyone knew that.

Steve and Sam had carried him down there. They were the least likely of the group to kill the guy in a fit of rage, so they were the obvious choice to take care of him. Natasha and Clint could probably be professional about it, but Steve and Sam were the safest bet. Natasha seemed to have connected on a deep level with the child, and Clint would go along with Natasha. They needed him alive. For now anyway.

Tony pulled up the live video feed from the interrogation room. Just because he couldn't be in there didn't mean he wasn't going to watch. He was also still hooked up to the comms along with Steve and Sam, that way he could give them information he was getting from his search programs, as well as listen to what was going on.

Steve dumped the man in his seat. He was awake now, but his leg wound was still bleeding a little. Not much, he wouldn't bleed out anytime soon, but Steve couldn't imagine that was very comforting to the man. Being shot wasn't a very comforting thing at all.

Steve supposed that they should probably get him checked on by a doctor, but Steve didn't really feel like it. This guy could get patched up after he talked.

" _Have him place his hand on the table, I had scanners installed. We can find out who he is through SHIELD's fingerprint database,"_ Tony said through the comms.

Sam grabbed the man's hands, placed them on the table, and watched as the table emitted a soft blue glow.

" _Results loading now. Okay, we Dr._ _Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. He trained under Dr. Lyudmila Kudrin and is in too some of the same stuff that she is. He has never been charged with anything, but he has been brought in from so some questioning regarding some suspicious deaths. I'm looking at some of his research papers right now. I'm not reading much because I really only have time to scan some of it, but it's some pretty messed up stuff. He's trying to recreate Dr. Erskine's serum, and he's not shy on hurting people to figure it out."_

Steve tensed at this. So many people had been hurt, and even killed over the formula. Knowing that Ulyanov was part of it was upsetting. People using what made him a hero, to create villains was not something he enjoyed. And he especially didn't like people dying or being hurt for it.

"Dr. Vladimir Ulyanov, you know who we are, yes?" Steve began.

The man nodded fervently, "Yes, you took her. You took her from me. But you won't be able to use her. No no no."

Steve was guessing the man really didn't know who they were. After all, people usually commented on the fact that they were with the Avengers. All the crazed man seemed to realize was that they were the people who had the girl.

"You shot me. Not you. The one with the red hair. That isn't good of her to do. You should kill her."

Steve couldn't believe what was coming out of this guys mouth. _How crazy was he?_ He was in an interrogation room, and he was demanding the person who shot him be shot. Did he really think that was going to happen?

"The girl," Sam said, interrupting Steve's train of thought, "Tell us about her. You seem to like talking about her."

"I do," the man said while nodding once more, "She is my greatest creation. All the other ones broke to quickly, but not her. She worked. But only if I turn her on. When she is off she is weak and pathetic."

Both men tried to swallow their anger so that they didn't punch him before they got all the answers they needed. "Where did she come from?" Steve asked.

"We got her from her uncle. He sold her to us. That was seven years ago. I fixed her up. Her back was broken, and her brain was broken, but I fixed it. Yes I did. I made her better. I made her perfect. It took a long time, and sometimes we had to beat her, but I worked it out. You want to use her, yes? You will need to beat her sometimes too if you want her to work right. Sometimes the devil comes to protect the weak one though, so you will have to be careful."

Tony swore over the comms. Steve wanted to. This guy was under the impression that they wanted to use her and was giving them tips on how to handle her. How to torture her. The doctor kept rambling on telling them different ways that they could keep her line. It was getting harder and harder to resist the urge of punching the guy to death.

How had the girl survived seven years of that torture?

Wait, seven years?

The girl had looked about seven years old, a severely underweight and tiny seven year old. How old was she really?

Steve interrupted the man's, and he used that word very loosely, talk about the different whips he used to punish her and asked, "How old was she when she came to you?"

The man looked put off at being interrupted, "Well, I don't see why that matters, but she was three. Now, back to punishment…"

Three.

That meant the tiny little thing in the medical wing was ten years old. And from the sounds of it, she had spent the entirety of her ten years of alive in horrible situations. Her uncle had sold her, already injured based on the man's story, at three, and then she spent the next seven years being tortured and trained.

The poor, poor child.

"What is her name?" Sam asked. It wouldn't do to call her girl forever, though Sam wasn't holding out hope that the man would be very helpful on the name front.

"Her name?"

"Yes, her name Vladimir. What is her name?"

"She is weapon. She doesn't need name."

See, not very helpful.

Sam took a deep breath to calm himself. "Well, then what did her uncle say her name was."

And with one word, the tenuous grasp the men had on self control was shattered.

"Freak."

That was all he needed to say before the doctor was once more punched unconscious.

._.

"You probably shouldn't have done that."

"I know."

"We probably could have gotten more information from him."

"I know that too."

"Punching him was really unnecessary."

"Don't you think I know that Sam. But are you really surprised?"

"No," Sam replied shaking his head, "More like jealous. I wanted to punch him."

"So did I," Tony added as he walked into the room. The team was gathered in the living room area to talk about everything that had happened. The mission, the rescue, and the interrogation. And any progress on the girl if there was any to be reported.

"You punched him?" Bruce asked.

"Yes!" Steve yelled, just the slightest bit of exasperation slipping into his voice. "I lost my temper and punched the prisoner in the face. I'm sorry alright."

"You really don't need to apologize, Captain," Natasha trying to calm the irate leader, "I punched him, too. And Bucky punched the plane. Everyone's doing a little punching."

Bucky just nodded.

"Well what did you learn before the punching?" Clint asked.

Seeing that Steve was still a little tense, Tony decided to answer. "Well, she's ten for starters. Her uncle sold her when she was three, she's been there seven years."

"Her uncle sold her!?" Clint asked. Damn.

"Yup, and get this, the uncle called her 'freak', and at the very least her back was broken when the Red Room got a hold of her.

"So what you're saying is," Bucky ground out through gritted teeth, "Is that the girl was abused, then sold and tortured?" Tony nodded. "Well fuck."

"I'm with Bucky on this one, and believe me that doesn't happen very often," Sam said clenching his fists. This whole shitty situation was just getting better and better.

"What about the other girls?" Steve decided to ask. There had been more than they were expecting, and he felt it was important to know where they had come from so that they could hopefully get them back there.

"I talked to them," Clint said, "Some of them were from Europe, which is why they didn't show up on Coulson's radar. He was only searching in Russia. And many of the others were street kids and orphans, there was no one to report them missing.

And that was the sad truth of their situation. Who knows how many girls had gone missing and been killed because no one had cared where they had gone and what had happened to them.

"Do we have any updates on her?" Tony asked. Everyone knew the specific 'her' he was speaking of.

"The doctors are just getting started," Bruce began, "But they have already cataloged a bunch of different injuries. She's also dangerously underweight, and considering she's actually ten, not seven or eight like we originally assumed, it's even worse. Umm, I also began examining her blood to see if we could get any idea what she was injected with, it shares remarkable similarities to Steve's blood, but there is no way to tell exactly what they used to make it like that. Unfortunately, with those similarities also comes a few of his abilities. Such as anesthetics not really working. She has already woken up a few times, and the sedatives I gave her on the place should have knocked her out for at least a day. She hasn't attacked any of the doctors, but some things have kind of flown around the room, and the lights flickered a few times. This suggests she has some kind of mutant ability, though it hasn't shown up in any of her blood work. The metal implants, are as we suspected, machinery used to enhance her, and based in their location and Tony's report on what the prisoner said, they are to fix her paralysis. I highly doubt she would be able to walk, let alone fight, without them."

The room was silent. After all what did one say when they discovered that a little girl had gone through such atrocities in her life.

Finally, the silence was broken by Bucky who asked the question everyone wanted to know the answer too. "What are we going to do with her?"

Unsurprisingly it was Natasha who answered, but what was surprising was her answer, "We are adopting her."

 **So, what did you think?**

 **Still like it I hope.**

 **Little Katya should be waking up next chapter if all goes according to plan. Though that doesn't always happen so we will see.**

 **Dont forget to review with name ideas and headcanons to use.**

 **I'm addicted to reviews, be my enabler!**

 **Love you my bitches, peace out and good night!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Do I own this? No, I'm a seventeen year old broke person. Not JK Rowling and Stan Lee.**

 **Warning: Descriptions of injuries. Not much, but enough to warn about.**

 **AN: I'M SORRY. I really am. I should have updated sooner, I have just had so much going on. My parents were in town with my siblings, i have five of them if you were wondering, so my house was too loud to get anything done, and then I visited their house. Between all of that and college stuff to get ready for, I didn't really have time to write. I hope this makes up for it.**

 **There is one name being said in this chapter. This is not her birth name. That will not be found out for a little while.**

 **T: I love that reaction. Love and hate go hand in hand.**

 **hicca909: Thank you so much, you have no idea what that means to me.**

 **DarknessClad: I really like that idea. I might use it actually. I'll just have to see how it all works out.**

 **Jh831: She was abandoned by the Dursley's. While I love alive!Potter's stories, I didn't want to write one of those right now. Maybe another time?**

 **Akshka: Well shit thank you**

 **PocketDuelMonsters: She will not be using canon spells. At least not most of the time. Not entirely sure how i'm going to do her magic yet, but I know she won't be using a wand.**

 **ArmedThreats: Not that I wouldn't love to see your threat pulled off, but i'm not going to do that. The bumblebee and leprechaun as you so kindly put it are going to get their just desserts for the shitty life they put her through. Let's just say her new family isn't just going to let things go. And they definitely aren't going to let her fight for people who don't really care about her**

 **Tristan: Obviously? Haha**

 **PantherGuide: You're going to have and wait and see about the Dumbles thing, I already have it planned out, it shall be fuunnnnnnn, But her parents will not be searching her out. As they are dead.**

 **Bluestorm28: Katya is the name Natasha gives her**

 **And a thank you to whoever else reviewed. Seriously they make my day**

"No."

"And why not?"

"Because you can't just adopt a kid. It doesn't work like that."

"And why not? She doesn't have a family, not one that I would ever send her back too. We checked, no one ever reported her missing. She was sold and no one cared. That means she has nowhere to go. And she can't just go into a foster family or be adopted by normal people, they wouldn't know how to handle her. We don't even know what will need handling with her yet. But we could figure it out. We will figure it can't turn her over to Fury to be put in prison or to be studied. I'm not saying he would necessarily want to do all of that, but he might not have a choice if we turn her over to SHIELD. And we can't just throw her out in the streets, obviously. The only other options are killing her or taking her in ourselves. And you know we can't kill her"

"Natasha… be reasonable."

"I am being perfectly reasonable Steve. Someone, please, point out one flaw in my argument."

Steve looked around the room for some sort of support because he honestly had no way of disputing her.

The truth was that Natasha was entirely correct, taking her in was really the best, and probably only option they had. He even wanted to take her in. To help her. But it was a big thing taking in a child. It wasn't something people just did. Especially people like them.

They all had jobs. Very dangerous jobs that could pull them away from home at any given moment, and there was no guarantee that they would be able to make it back every time. Where would that leave her if that happened.

They all had enemies. Very powerful enemies. If these enemies found out about her they could use her to get to them, and she could be hurt. Again.

Plus, he wasn't entirely sure any of them actually knew how to care for a child. But then again this wasn't exactly a normal child they were talking about.

Instead of voicing all of these thoughts, Steve just said, "You're right, We should do this." After all, he would have given in eventually and he might as well skip to that part of the chapter instead of verbally sparring with Natasha. That was not an activity you would win. Ever.

"That's what I thought."

"Ok, well that's good and all, we are taking in baby assassin," Tony began. "But what about all the other details? What are we going to call her? Who exactly is adopting her? We can't all be her parents on the adoption papers I have every intention of forging, Where is she going to sleep? I'm all down with adopting her, I would just like some sort of details."

"Clint and I will be her parents. And her name will be Ekaterina Rose Barton. She will sleep on our floor."

"Nat!" Clint exclaimed.

"Please Bird Brain, if you are freaking out about Red pretty much outing your relationship, we already knew. We may not be super secret spies like you are, but we have eyes," Tony paused for a moment. "And JARVIS."

Clint reddened and muttered under his breath about nosy AI's.

 _Honestly,_ Tony thought, _They lived in his tower, did he honestly think that anything that went on was hidden from his all seeing eyes? Or cameras?_

"Ekaterina Rose?" Bucky asked. " Why that name?"

"Ekaterina means pure in Russian. Through all the shit that girl went through, I could still see a sort of innocence. Of purity."

"And the Rose part?"

"It's pretty," Natasha deadpanned.

"I think it suits her," Sam interjected. "We could call her Katya for short. And Tony can call the hundreds of nicknames he has probably already thought of."

During their short conversation, Tony had pulled out a tablet and had begun typing on it. "Ekaterina Rose Barton. What day should we make her birthday be?"

"How about today?" Clint decided. "The day we rescued her."

"I like it," Tony said as he typed in the data into the device in his hands. "July 7 is her new birthday."

"Put the year down as 2005."

"I figured. That's pretty much all the basic information that I need, I can make up the rest."

"I don't really think it's that easy Tony. You can't just make a birth certificate for someone, it doesn't work like that."

"Jeez Steve, aren't you the pinnacle of optimism today."

"I'm trying to be helpful."

"It's not. I mean, true, for most people it really doesn't work like that, but I'm a genius billionaire with an AI who works overtime. I can make it work like that."

"Ok, now that that's taken care of," Natasha interjected before Steve and Tony could begin fighting. They were getting along much better than they had when they first met, but there were still times would squabbles would break out between the two of them. This was not the time for one of those squabbles, she now had a daughter to worry about. "We need to decide what we are going to do about SHIELD."

All bickering stopped and the room went silent once more. This was a big problem. They had been sent in to rescue the kidnapped girls and to take care of the assassin. Not rescue the girls and adopt the assassin.

There was obviously no way they could or even would turn her over to SHIELD, but Fury was still their boss. You don't do things behind your boss' back, and you most certainly don't adopt a child assassin that you were supposed to bring back to headquarters.

Though, honestly he shouldn't be all that surprised. Clint had pretty much done the same thing with Natasha. And the whole team had done it with Bucky. This assassin was just… younger.

That being said, the situation still had to be dealt with.

"We need to tell him about her," Steve stated.

"Well obviously," Tony responded sarcastically. "I think he's going to notice if we don't. Although SHIELD can be unbelievably dense at times, a child suddenly being around is not very hard to miss."

"Do you think," Clint requested, "that we could keep the sarcasm to a minimum for right now. This is serious."

"I am being serious," Tony responded.

"Guys," Bruce exclaimed, "Plan. We need one."

"I think that's all we should do." At the blank looks he received, Sam explained. "We don't need Fury's permission. He may not like it, but we are the Avengers. Is he really gonna risk going against us to get her back? I mean, they saw how that worked out trying to get Bucky back."

The group thought on it for a moment. Sam was right. They needed to tell Fury who she was and what her situation was. That didn't mean that they had to let him have any sort of say in what was going on.

They were the Avengers. If they couldn't protect a little girl from their own boss, then they didn't deserve to be in the super hero business.

"Nice. Done and done. Simple solution." Clint cheered as he jumped up from his place on the couch. "Now that the hard parts over, who wants to go check on Katya. Because I know I want too."

"I think only Natasha, you, and I should for now," Bruce held up a hand at the protests he was getting. "There are already going to be a bunch of doctors there, we don't need a bunch more people. Natasha and Clint because they are the parents, and me because I am still a doctor on her case."

While the rest of the tem wasn't exactly happy about it, they understood. They held back as Natasha, Clint, and Bruce headed to the medical area of Avengers tower.

As they walked over, Natasha turned to Clint.

"You are okay with this, right?" Natasha questioned, "With adopting her?"

"Of course," he answered quickly, "I would have said something if I wasn't. I was just more surprised you announced to everyone that we were together."

"Clint, they already knew."

"No, they assumed."

"We knew," Bruce interjected, ending whatever argument that may have started.

Clint humphed, and they continued walking.

It didn't take them long to get there. The three of them were quickly greeted by a doctor.

"I'm Dr. Miller, I am going to be head of…"

"Katya." Clint supplied realizing the doctor was searching for a name.

"Katya's case. I'm assuming Dr. Banner already filled you in on what we told him about an hour ago?" Dr. Miller took the small nods he received as confirmation and continued on. "That is most of what we can tell you about what is going on with her. We don't know exactly what the implants are for yet. We have discovered that the eye is connected to her brain in a way, and that there is some wiring and mechanics along her skull and in the brain. There is no way to remove this, and I'm shocked they were even able to find away to do it the way they did. I also wouldn't be shocked if the eye has some sort of abilities. Whenever she woke up and looked at us it would sort of pulse and then focus. Probably some sort of identification software, I would not, I am not a engineer or mechanics genius. Still not sure of the point of the one down her spine, but that is also connected to her brain."

"We think we know that ones there," Bruce explained, "She used to be paralysed. It's probably there to fix that."

"That would make sense," the doctor agreed. "And again even if we wanted to remove them, we wouldn't be able to.

"Now on to some of her other injuries. While they look extreme, the truth is most of them are just superficial wounds. There are whip marks on her back and her feet, and bruises in multiple stages of healing all over. Some of the whip marks will scar, and there is evidence that some already have, but have been covered up by some sort of cosmetic surgery. Also, we were able to take an x-ray, and there is evidence of fractured and broken bones from as early as one or two years old. The worst right now is a fractured arm, most of them are healed.

"Now I understand that all of this sounds really bad, and believe me it isn't good, but she will heal. All of it will heal. She'll have to live with implants, and unless you want to do another cosmetic surgery, scars as well, but she will be able to live a semi-regular life. And another thing is that she seems to be healing remarkably quickly. We've already seen evidence of bruises healing since you've brought her in.

That's all I have to report, is there any questions that you guys have?"

The three Avengers shook their heads.

"Okay, well we have done pretty much all we can do for now. She's sedated right now, but who knows how long that will last, you guys can go in and sit with her if you would like."

Natasha and Clint immediately pushed past the doctor and into the room beyond. Bruce elected to stay back.

There once again on a bed was the little girl. Her black hair surrounded her like a dark halo on the white hospital bed. Her eyes were closed and she looked much more peaceful than she had the last time they had seen her.

When they had rescued her.

The hospital machines around her beeped and blinked with all sort of data input that neither of them really understood. The basis of their medical knowledge was being in the field and having to patch up whatever wounds they had with what was around them. That knowledge really wasn't going to help them here.

Seeing her laying on the bed, seeing Katya laying on the bed, made Natasha think on the decision that they had made. Well, that she had made really.

Were they really ready for this?

Could they be parents to this hurting little girl?

Would she even want them too?

What right did they have to adopt her? Two assassins had no business raising a child, even if that child herself was an assassin. They didn't know how to take care of a life, they only knew how to end one.

But what were they supposed to do?

They rescued her. She was their responsibility. One that Natasha so badly wanted.

She had never told Clint before, but she very much so wanted children. To be a mother. To have someone of her very own to love and cherish. But the Red Room had taken that from her. Their surgeries and experiments had left her unable to bear children. And there was no way that if they went through the proper channels anyone would ever allow her to adopt a child. So she had given up on her dream. Her dream of children.

And now here was this opportunity presented to them. A child. A little girl who had been taken and tortured by the world she was forced to live in. A little girl that they could save.

So, that's what they would do.

They would save her, and they would raise her. They would take care of her until she no longer wanted them in her life.

And not because they had too, or some sense of duty, but because they wanted too.

Clint and Natasha grabbed two chairs that were against the wall of the room and pulled them closer to the bad and sat on them.

The two of them sat in silence for over an hour just watching her, the only sounds in the room the beeping of the machines and the occasional doctor that came into to check on their little girl.

They were anxious for her to wake up, but also nervous.

They wanted to tell her about them being her new parents and how they wanted to take care of her, but they didn't want to be rejected.

But before they knew it, there was a groan from the bed.

They immediately focused in on where the sound came from.

She was stirring.

Her eyes were slowly blinking open

She was waking up.

As her eyes opened fully, the spy couple just watched. They didn't want to startle her in anyway.

It took awhile, but her eyes eventually focused on the two people sitting by her bed.

The three of them sat staring at each other for just a moment, though all three of them would later swear that it was an entire lifetime.

It was Katya who spoke first, "You saved me. You got me away."

Her voice sounded so young. Much younger than the ten year old that they knew her to be.

It wasn't that surprising. Natasha didn't think that she really had a chance to grow up at all.

"We did," Natasha said softly. "We got you out of there."

"I didn't think anyone would ever save me," Katya said in a quiet voice.

"I'm glad we could," Clint said, also keeping his voice low and quiet. "I'm so glad we got you out of there."

She didn't seem to know how to respond to that so she just kept quiet for a moment. Natasha and Clint kept quiet as well.

"Do I get to stay out forever?" she asked.

Natasha nodded, "Yes sweetie. You never have to go back ever again. We won't let them take you back.

Soft tears began falling down her face.

"You won't let me go back?"

"Never," Clint confirmed.

She was full on crying now.

"I don't want to go back. Thank you. Thank you."

Natasha very cautiously bent down and brought the little girl to her chest.

She tensed at first but quickly melted into Natasha's arms.

"You are so very welcome sweetie."

They sat like that for a very long time. At least it felt like a very long time. Katya crying into Natasha's arms while Clint rested his hand on Natasha's shoulder from the chair beside her.

Finally, after Katya had finished crying, she pulled away and looked at Natasha. "Who will take care of me? I have no one," she said, tears still trickling down.

"We are going to take care of you. You have us now"

This brought a whole new round of tears.

"We want to adopt you, if that is ok" Natasha stated, "Do you know what that means?"

Katya paused for a moment, her face going slightly expressionless, before looking at Natasha once more. "Yes, but how?"

"We have a friend who is going to help us," Clint explained. "Do you want us to adopt?"

Katya shakily nodded, "I want someone to adopt me. I want parents. Will parents love me?"

At this, Natasha's eyes began to fill with tears. How this little girl had even learned of, or even understood the concept of love, she didn't know, but she was so glad that she did.

"Yes sweetie. Parents will love you."

"And you want to be my parents?"

"We want to be your parents."

"I like that," she said shyly bowing her head.

Natasha reached toward lifted her head up so that Katya's green and blue eyes met her own green ones. "We would like that too. Very much so."

Soon enough Natasha was being hugged once more.

Natasha heard something being muttered into her shoulder. "What was that?"

Katya pulled away from her shoulder. "Do I have a name? I don't think I have a name."

Both Clint and Natasha tensed up at this. They already knew this of course, but it was still sad to think about the fact that a ten year old girl had grown up not knowing who she was.

"We thought of a name for you, if you would like to know."

She just nodded.

"Ekaterina Rose Barton. Or Katya for short."

The little girl, now officially Katya Rose, nodded once more, and went in for another hug.

Natasha obliged.

 **ALLLLLLLLL DONNNNNEEEEEEEE**

 **Finally! So sorry about that again.**

 **I'm addicted to reviews, be my enabler!**

 **Love you my bitches, peace out and good night!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer- I am obviously a horrible person for making you wait for so long... but this is not mine**

 **I will hopefully be able to post again soon as an apology for not only the longest time between updates as well as a short chapter...**

 **I'm a shitty person... sorry** **I don't think any warning needed this chapter**

The little girl now known as Ekaterina Rose Barton didn't know what to think exactly about her new situation. It wasn't a bad situation, in fact is quite the opposite, but it was completely new. Katya wasn't very good at handling new.

That was her protector's job.

Katya didn't really remember exactly when her protector showed up, but what she does remember is that when she woke up many of the scientists were afraid of her, and they began treating her even worse than before.

She could handle worse, she couldn't handle new.

So whenever something new happened, or something she couldn't handle, protector took over, and by the time she woke up the situation had be taken care of.

But here she was, in an unfamiliar situation, and her protector was nowhere to be seen. Katya wasn't entirely sure if she was ok with that or not.

On one hand, she didn't know what was going on. What if they beat her like uncle did? What if they made her do things like the people in white did?

So many what if's.

On the other hand, they had taken her away from the bad place. They had saved her, just like she always asked someone, anyone to do. And they said they were going to be her parents.

parent  
1 a : one that begets or brings forth offspring

b : a person who brings up and cares for another

Katya had always wanted that. Someone to care for her. Maybe having parents would be a good thing for her. A good, new thing. Something that had never happened to her before. Maybe that's why her protector wasn't coming? Maybe she didn't need protecting right now.

That was definitely a new experience. But maybe she could handle it all on her own.

Katya pulled herself out of her new parents arms and leaned back in her hospital.

"Why does that feel good?" she asked, her head tilting a little bit to the side.

"Why does what feel good sweetie?" the man said.

"With the arms. You put your arms around me, and I feel warm and nice.I like it a lots. What's it called?" The man and the woman, her parents look at each other.

"It's called a hug sweetheart. Do you know what a hug is?" the man replied.

Katya paused and searched for the meaning, then responded, "Hug, to press tightly especially in the arms."

Her parents nodded, "Yes, that's the definition of a hug, technically, but do you know why you give hugs or what they are for?"

Katya was confused. Didn't she just tell them what they were for. "To press tightly…"

"Sweetie, a hug is more than that. It is something that you use to help someone who is sad, or maybe show them that you are happy. It lets people know that you care," Katya's new father explained.

Katya was still puzzled. Her brows furrowed as she tried to apply this newfound definition to the one that she had been supplied with by her brain. They were two very different things. One clinical and normal, the other warm and entirely new.

More with the new today. It was very odd. And very unsettling.

"I don't think anyone has ever given me a hug before. That's new." Katya shook her head. "I don't usually like new."

"Usually?" the red headed woman, the one Katya only new as her savior and new mother, questioned. "Is this an okay new? Or would you like us to stop?" She looked pained as she said this.

"NO!" Katya shouted before lowering her voice, and speaking quietly once more, "I like it. Please don't stop. I'll be good, I promise. Please please please."

Tears once more flowed down the little girl's face, her glowing eye flickering as emotions overtook her. For the first time ever something positive seemed to be happening to her and this woman was asking her if she wanted it to go away? She never wanted this positive, pleasant feeling of a hug to go away.

Once more, Katya felt arms wrap around her body.

"Never sweetie. We will never stop hugging you if you do not want us to." The sound of her father's voice calmed her tears.

"Well isn't this a lovely sight," came a man's voice from the door.

Katya's head flew up and her eyes met the mans at the door.

He wasn't a very tall man, but his immediate presence made him seem larger than life. He had short, spiky brown hair, and a goatee on his chin. He had large brown eyes, that shined with something akin to mischief, and his mouth was pulled into a tight, playful smirk. Through the thin t-shirt on his chest, a blue light, not unlike her eyes, shined through.

Information flashed before her eyes, "Anthony Edward Stark also known as The Merchant of Death, Iron Man, and Tony Stark."

The playful smirk left his mouth as his eyes widened.

Armed with this new information of who was with her, Katya turned to the people who were to be her parents.

"Clint Francis Barton, also known as Hawkeye." She turned from her father towards her mother, and gasped as the information came up. "Natalia Alianovna Romanoff also known as Black Widow and Natasha Romanoff." Her eyes widened. "You got away. You got away." She began crying again.

"How does she…" the man at the door, Stark, had begun speaking again.

"Milaya*... how do you know those things?" Romanoff's voice was soft as she leaned in to speak to her.

"My screen," Katya explained, tears still streaming down her face.

"Your screen?" Barton asked.

"My screen. In my eye." She hoped this would clarify. She had never had to explain anything to anyone before. Her job was to be silent and do whatever she was told.

"Maybe that's what her eye does," Barton whispered, presumably to Romanoff. "It's like a little computer in her head that gives her information."  
"Well isn't that awesome Miss Cyborg," Stark said walking into the room. "We both got machines in us."  
"Don't call my daughter cyborg Tony."

"Calm down bird boy. I'm sure she doesn't mind," Stark turned towards her. "Do you mind baby cyborg?"

Katya stopped her tears and dragged her arm across her face wiping her nose. "No. Why would I mind? Why do you care if I mind?"  
"Cause your opinions matter, milaya," Romanoff explained.

The room was silent for a moment.

"Do you still want to be my parents?" Katya questioned.

"What?" Barton looked confused.

"Because you are special, and important. And I am bad. Do you still want to be my parents?"

"Of course we do!" Barton exclaimed. "And you aren't bad, you've just had a bad time of it so far. And we are going to help make it better."

Katya looked towards Romanoff, a woman she had worshiped since she had first heard of. The woman who made it out of the Red Room. Someone who survived and made something of themselves. Katya desperately wanted her to be her mother.

"Of course Katya. Nothing will ever make me not want to be your mother. You finding out who we are doesn't change who we re going to be for you." Romanoff, her mother, opened her arms to be hugged again.

Katya immediately took her up on the offer.

"And on that beautiful note, I have news. Uncle Tony has got the papers settled. Congratulations! It's a girl." 'Uncle Tony' as he had dubbed himself, through his hands in the air in some sort of show of excitement.

 ***Milaya- Russian term of endearment I found on the internet meaning 'sweet girl'**

 **Sorry**


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